Past
Born centuries ago of hatred, violence, and death, the Assassins were the most feared organization within the city outside of the Khadi themselves. No one was safe from an Assassin’s blade and the mere whisper that one of the famous killers was after a person was enough to get them to panic. For all the terror they produced though, their main foe had always been the Khadi, and more specifically the Immortal Caliph. Before the Awakening, the Assassins, knowing that the time was fast approaching when the long feud between them and the Immortal Caliph would come to an end, began a flurry of assassinations and were well on their way to completing their goal.
Unfortunately, two of their senior members, Chandra and Haroun, had turned on the Assassins. Haroun, seeking power, joined the Qolat who for years had attempted to subvert the Order of the Mountain. Chandra had grown jealous of her father’s favor for her sister Fatima, and in a fit of jealousy joined forces with the Jackals. When The Old Man of the Mountain sent Fatima out to find the Immortal Caliph’s heart, she was captured by the Jackals thanks to the betrayal of Chandra and the promising Assassin’s soul was stolen before she managed to escape, discovering that she was slowly turning into something undead. Haroun meanwhile had come up with his own plan to get out from under the boots of both his father and the Qolat and led his brothers into battle against the Senpet where they were slaughtered to a man.
As the Old Man sat in his mountain fortress, news came of two tumultuous events at the same time. First came the news that his enemy of centuries had died at anothers hand. The crushing realization that centuries of despair and planning and bloodshed had been for nothing was too much for the man, and the news that all of his male heirs were dead came almost as a relief to the man. When Fatima appeared to kill him, he welcomed the dagger that finally took his life.
Present
The death of the Old Man of the Mountain irrevocably shattered the unity of the Assassins. Many of the Daughters shed their daggers and disappeared in the city, taking up normal lives. Other assets cut their ties to the Assassins and continued their legitimate business fronts. The power base of the Assassins that had been built over centuries was shrinking quickly even as the various factions began to gain form.
Adira, the adopted daughter of the Old Man, took control of the Caliphate using ancient artifacts in the Old Man’s possession that proved her link to the line of the Sultan. Many Assassins, seeing no better options, joined with her to form a new Qadi that would protect the city. Of her other sisters, Chandra and Shala began a Civil War for control of the Assassins that was settled after Chandra was found dead. The remaining Assassins threw their support behind Shala and the lines were drawn. Though Adira attempted to reconcile with her sisters her messengers often never returned and eventually Adira simply prepared herself for the storm that would soon be breaking.
Once Shala had restored some semblance of order within her faction, she retook many of the businesses that had attempted to break away from her. Some resisted, and once their owners were killed in public as an example to others, the new management proved to be very accepting of her demands. An attempt on Puja’s life just a few years later convinced Adira of the severity of the threat that the Traditionalists posed to her and she started to take greater steps to secure and protect her family and her city from her sisters. Still, Adira refused to begin a war with those she still believed were her sisters.
The apparent stalemate has continued ever since, though the Caliphate has yet to put a concerted effort into striking at the so called True Daughters and Sons of the Mountain, busy as they are with running one of the largest cities in the world. The True Daughters meanwhile do their best to continue what they have been doing for centuries, harassing the Caliphate and attempting to bring them to their knees. Into this mix a third faction has recently come to light. The Qadaam, the Men of the Blood-Red Tiger, have shown training in the ways of the Assassin, revealing their presence through the killing of one of the best Assassins of her time, Jamilah. The Qadaam have begun a quiet war against the True Daughters under the watchful eye of the Old Man of the Mountain, Haroun al-Alamut.
As the months passed however, the quiet war became a very public one. Each division within the Assassins had turned to all out warfare in an attempt to exterminate, or break the power of, the other two. In the end though, the Qadi managed to muster enough force and take enough advantage of the fighting to force the rebellious elements under their control. Their measured approach of only eliminating the leaders of the opposing factions however has left them with a problem. There are still many who were True Daughters that still see the Qadi as traitors to the Assassin cause, remaining a rebellious element within the Assassins and creating a movement to return the Assassins to their roots. The Qadaam are perhaps even more insidious however. Their close ties to the Qolat has put the secret society in a better location than ever before to supplant the Caliph and Sultan with their own candidates in one fell swoop.
Future
The bloodshed of the past year has left the Assassin order tired and bruised for the foreseeable future. Though they are now under one leader once again, they remain fractious and bloodied and ill prepared to handle the situation they are in now. The Assassins are used to dealing with external enemies, they are not used to the idea of doubting their brothers and sisters. Time will tell how the Assassins adjust to this new way of life.
Leaders
Head of the Qadi
I’timad al-Alamut has been the head of the Qadi for nine years, and almost no one knows it. There are many reasons why this is, but the simplest is that she simply does not advertise the fact and she goes to great pains to make certain no one else does either. I’timad is a quiet and plain woman who gives the appearance that she is constantly watching. She rarely makes public appearances, and in those times that she does she is rarely given much notice and rarely introduces herself as anything more than as a member of the Qadi.
Her role as an Assassin is completely unknown outside of the select Qadi officers who are in the know about the organization. Her secrecy does not just extend to her position, but her personal life as well. Few know where she lives, where she goes to have a good time (or if she even ever has a good time), or even what she likes to eat. Rumors run rampant about her among those of lower station than her. Some claim that she’s really a shapeshifter. Others say she is a ghost. One thing is certain however, she is very good at her job.
Since the end of the Assassin Civil War, I’timad has been the de facto head of the Assassins, a position she loathes as her well oiled machine that was the Qadi now seems ready to tear out it’s own throat at the most minor of inconveniences. Still, better her than another, so far as she is concerned and it is for that reason that she has begun to use the al-Alamut moniker, something that many surviving Traditionalists bristle at.
The Mountain’s Daughter
After the fall of the Mountain not once but twice, it was a difficult thing to chose a leader from among the ruins of the Daughters who would be willing to work with the Qadi. The Caliph’s orders concerning sparing many made this task even more difficult as many who had a deep-seated hatred for the Qadi survived the fighting. Eventually, they managed to find a candidate who’s pragmatism was weighed evenly with her zealousness and Nasim al-Alamut, a great-granddaughter to the Old Man, become the Mountain’s Daughter.
Nasim has the perfect blend of haunting beauty and vagueness of features that can get people to let their guard down, but leave them scratching their heads as to what she looked like exactly. She has perhaps that most useful of talents for an Assassin, the ability to improvise, and is well liked by her fellow sisters. She shows the proper amount of deference to the Qadi, while never kowtowing and looking as though they are her lords.
Nasim also has ambition for greater things. She agrees with the Qadi that the Assassins had to be brought together once again, she simply believes that the wrong side won, and seeks, quietly, to supplant the Qadi as the head of the Assassins. A not so subtle sign of this rebellion has been her continued use of the Alamut moniker, a title of power among the Assassins and one that she competes with I’timad for the use of.
Leader of the Qadaam
The remains of the Qadaam are perhaps the most dangerous thing to life as it is known in Medinaat al-Salaam. Their current leader, Junayd, is a cautious man who saw himself elevated to the top of the order partly by elimination of his competition, either by himself or by other Assassins during the fighting. He was loyal to Haroun, and even joined the Qolat conspiracy, working his way through the ranks during the Civil War until he finally became Master Tiger. His elevation came mostly at the behest of Suleiman al-Rassoulli, and he has been happy to play well with his fellow masters, not wanting to see the strife that had threatened to expose the conspiracy spark up again.
Junayd is a relaxed man, by most standards, though he rarely shows any emotion, he has a care-free attitude to him, and enjoys cooking or playing his buzuq. It serves to ease his mind, and to make his opponents think less of him. A Charismatic man, Junayd has gained the support of many of his fellow Qadaam, though the rest of the Assassins remain wary of him as they remain wary of the strange Qadaam. Still he does his best to break down those barriers.
Ultimately, Junayd realizes how close the Qolat are now, with Suleiman as a trusted advisor to the Sultan and the Qadaam at the throat of the Caliph, all it will take is a few more steps and they will be in position to quietly take over the city. Still, if nothing else the Qolat has learned from the mistakes of their Rokugani brethren. The game isn’t over until you’ve won, and the closer you get to victory the more dangerous each step gets.
History
PastBorn centuries ago of hatred, violence, and death, the Assassins were the most feared organization within the city outside of the Khadi themselves. No one was safe from an Assassin’s blade and the mere whisper that one of the famous killers was after a person was enough to get them to panic. For all the terror they produced though, their main foe had always been the Khadi, and more specifically the Immortal Caliph. Before the Awakening, the Assassins, knowing that the time was fast approaching when the long feud between them and the Immortal Caliph would come to an end, began a flurry of assassinations and were well on their way to completing their goal.
Unfortunately, two of their senior members, Chandra and Haroun, had turned on the Assassins. Haroun, seeking power, joined the Qolat who for years had attempted to subvert the Order of the Mountain. Chandra had grown jealous of her father’s favor for her sister Fatima, and in a fit of jealousy joined forces with the Jackals. When The Old Man of the Mountain sent Fatima out to find the Immortal Caliph’s heart, she was captured by the Jackals thanks to the betrayal of Chandra and the promising Assassin’s soul was stolen before she managed to escape, discovering that she was slowly turning into something undead. Haroun meanwhile had come up with his own plan to get out from under the boots of both his father and the Qolat and led his brothers into battle against the Senpet where they were slaughtered to a man.
As the Old Man sat in his mountain fortress, news came of two tumultuous events at the same time. First came the news that his enemy of centuries had died at anothers hand. The crushing realization that centuries of despair and planning and bloodshed had been for nothing was too much for the man, and the news that all of his male heirs were dead came almost as a relief to the man. When Fatima appeared to kill him, he welcomed the dagger that finally took his life.
Present
The death of the Old Man of the Mountain irrevocably shattered the unity of the Assassins. Many of the Daughters shed their daggers and disappeared in the city, taking up normal lives. Other assets cut their ties to the Assassins and continued their legitimate business fronts. The power base of the Assassins that had been built over centuries was shrinking quickly even as the various factions began to gain form.
Adira, the adopted daughter of the Old Man, took control of the Caliphate using ancient artifacts in the Old Man’s possession that proved her link to the line of the Sultan. Many Assassins, seeing no better options, joined with her to form a new Qadi that would protect the city. Of her other sisters, Chandra and Shala began a Civil War for control of the Assassins that was settled after Chandra was found dead. The remaining Assassins threw their support behind Shala and the lines were drawn. Though Adira attempted to reconcile with her sisters her messengers often never returned and eventually Adira simply prepared herself for the storm that would soon be breaking.
Once Shala had restored some semblance of order within her faction, she retook many of the businesses that had attempted to break away from her. Some resisted, and once their owners were killed in public as an example to others, the new management proved to be very accepting of her demands. An attempt on Puja’s life just a few years later convinced Adira of the severity of the threat that the Traditionalists posed to her and she started to take greater steps to secure and protect her family and her city from her sisters. Still, Adira refused to begin a war with those she still believed were her sisters.
The apparent stalemate has continued ever since, though the Caliphate has yet to put a concerted effort into striking at the so called True Daughters and Sons of the Mountain, busy as they are with running one of the largest cities in the world. The True Daughters meanwhile do their best to continue what they have been doing for centuries, harassing the Caliphate and attempting to bring them to their knees. Into this mix a third faction has recently come to light. The Qadaam, the Men of the Blood-Red Tiger, have shown training in the ways of the Assassin, revealing their presence through the killing of one of the best Assassins of her time, Jamilah. The Qadaam have begun a quiet war against the True Daughters under the watchful eye of the Old Man of the Mountain, Haroun al-Alamut.
As the months passed however, the quiet war became a very public one. Each division within the Assassins had turned to all out warfare in an attempt to exterminate, or break the power of, the other two. In the end though, the Qadi managed to muster enough force and take enough advantage of the fighting to force the rebellious elements under their control. Their measured approach of only eliminating the leaders of the opposing factions however has left them with a problem. There are still many who were True Daughters that still see the Qadi as traitors to the Assassin cause, remaining a rebellious element within the Assassins and creating a movement to return the Assassins to their roots. The Qadaam are perhaps even more insidious however. Their close ties to the Qolat has put the secret society in a better location than ever before to supplant the Caliph and Sultan with their own candidates in one fell swoop.
Future
The bloodshed of the past year has left the Assassin order tired and bruised for the foreseeable future. Though they are now under one leader once again, they remain fractious and bloodied and ill prepared to handle the situation they are in now. The Assassins are used to dealing with external enemies, they are not used to the idea of doubting their brothers and sisters. Time will tell how the Assassins adjust to this new way of life.
Leaders
Head of the QadiI’timad al-Alamut has been the head of the Qadi for nine years, and almost no one knows it. There are many reasons why this is, but the simplest is that she simply does not advertise the fact and she goes to great pains to make certain no one else does either. I’timad is a quiet and plain woman who gives the appearance that she is constantly watching. She rarely makes public appearances, and in those times that she does she is rarely given much notice and rarely introduces herself as anything more than as a member of the Qadi.
Her role as an Assassin is completely unknown outside of the select Qadi officers who are in the know about the organization. Her secrecy does not just extend to her position, but her personal life as well. Few know where she lives, where she goes to have a good time (or if she even ever has a good time), or even what she likes to eat. Rumors run rampant about her among those of lower station than her. Some claim that she’s really a shapeshifter. Others say she is a ghost. One thing is certain however, she is very good at her job.
Since the end of the Assassin Civil War, I’timad has been the de facto head of the Assassins, a position she loathes as her well oiled machine that was the Qadi now seems ready to tear out it’s own throat at the most minor of inconveniences. Still, better her than another, so far as she is concerned and it is for that reason that she has begun to use the al-Alamut moniker, something that many surviving Traditionalists bristle at.
The Mountain’s Daughter
After the fall of the Mountain not once but twice, it was a difficult thing to chose a leader from among the ruins of the Daughters who would be willing to work with the Qadi. The Caliph’s orders concerning sparing many made this task even more difficult as many who had a deep-seated hatred for the Qadi survived the fighting. Eventually, they managed to find a candidate who’s pragmatism was weighed evenly with her zealousness and Nasim al-Alamut, a great-granddaughter to the Old Man, become the Mountain’s Daughter.
Nasim has the perfect blend of haunting beauty and vagueness of features that can get people to let their guard down, but leave them scratching their heads as to what she looked like exactly. She has perhaps that most useful of talents for an Assassin, the ability to improvise, and is well liked by her fellow sisters. She shows the proper amount of deference to the Qadi, while never kowtowing and looking as though they are her lords.
Nasim also has ambition for greater things. She agrees with the Qadi that the Assassins had to be brought together once again, she simply believes that the wrong side won, and seeks, quietly, to supplant the Qadi as the head of the Assassins. A not so subtle sign of this rebellion has been her continued use of the Alamut moniker, a title of power among the Assassins and one that she competes with I’timad for the use of.
Leader of the Qadaam
The remains of the Qadaam are perhaps the most dangerous thing to life as it is known in Medinaat al-Salaam. Their current leader, Junayd, is a cautious man who saw himself elevated to the top of the order partly by elimination of his competition, either by himself or by other Assassins during the fighting. He was loyal to Haroun, and even joined the Qolat conspiracy, working his way through the ranks during the Civil War until he finally became Master Tiger. His elevation came mostly at the behest of Suleiman al-Rassoulli, and he has been happy to play well with his fellow masters, not wanting to see the strife that had threatened to expose the conspiracy spark up again.
Junayd is a relaxed man, by most standards, though he rarely shows any emotion, he has a care-free attitude to him, and enjoys cooking or playing his buzuq. It serves to ease his mind, and to make his opponents think less of him. A Charismatic man, Junayd has gained the support of many of his fellow Qadaam, though the rest of the Assassins remain wary of him as they remain wary of the strange Qadaam. Still he does his best to break down those barriers.
Ultimately, Junayd realizes how close the Qolat are now, with Suleiman as a trusted advisor to the Sultan and the Qadaam at the throat of the Caliph, all it will take is a few more steps and they will be in position to quietly take over the city. Still, if nothing else the Qolat has learned from the mistakes of their Rokugani brethren. The game isn’t over until you’ve won, and the closer you get to victory the more dangerous each step gets.